Gold stupas wreathed in smog reflect light like diamonds in the dirt, meanwhile heavy foot traffic shifts about the city in swarms as thick as the haze surrounding them. Faces smeared with a tree bark mixture are tribally decorative whilst serving a purpose; protection from the oppressive Burmese-sun. Those faces survey us, white-skinned strangers and at first it feels a little intimidating. A leap of faith and an offered smile reveals the gorgeousness of this city; the smile is returned, exuberant and nodding in approval, the shyness dissolved into genuine curiosity and delight in the encounter. These faces illustrate the meeting of two subcontinents; the crux of Indochina, a spectrum of Asia displaying a multihued variety of skin and diversity of aesthetics unlike any other country we have visited. We are unfamiliar with the voluptuous script ... read more

After what has seemed like months of successive, agonisingly long journeys which have taken us from A to B on our travels, we opted for the less scenic, but certainly more manageable six hour bus ride from Mandalay to the town of Nyuang U in Bagan. Originally, our plan was to taken the government owned and operated slow boat down the Ayeyarwaddy River to Nyuang U. However, in this instance we simply did not in any way desire the 5am start nor the fifteen hour travel time. I could have fabricated a falsehood at this juncture, painting ourselves as democracy demanding crusaders who would not allow a penny of our hard earned money to fall into the pockets of the tyrannical military Burmese government, thereby giving them the proverbial middle finger – but we all know ... read more

The awkward moment when a saffron-clad monk approaches, stoic in tranquil surroundings, he looks you straight in the eyes and asks, without joke or jest: “Excuse me sir, what is lovely jubbly?” “Mandalay” has been a known entity to me since who knows when, the same way as Timbuktu is known by name but other familiarities such as depiction and, most importantly, place remained vague. What I had created as a picture of Mandalay sometime in my childhood; a vivid image of the Orient painted in shades of gold, must have been inspired by cheap, oil on canvas depictions found throughout Asia and far beyond. In hindsight, I seem to have unconsciously married the exotic name “Mandalay” with equally exotic images of the many-templed Bagan. In truth, Mandalay exists as a dirty, busy city devoid of ... read more

To say Inle Lake is breathtakingly beautiful just doesn’t do this place justice... We had arrived in Inthein just after midday, seeking refuge from the scalding sun and its seething heat after what had been a gruelling three day, 60km hike across the Burmese countryside from Kalaw. Coincidentally, the local market was scheduled to be in town on the morning of our arrival, so we had rose early from our monastic (literally) lodging and hiked at a decent pace to reach Inthein market on the western shores of Inle Lake. When we arrived however, Amy and I and indeed our fellow hikers were simply too exhausted to really take everything in around the hustle and bustle of food vendors and souvenir stalls. Rather, we settled ourselves with what reprieve a local restaurant could provide and quietly ... read more

In perhaps any other country, being swindled out of $100 (and almost another $100 further) on your very first day in a new country may set an early tone for an unpleasant stay, but then Burma isn’t just any other country... After a short stay in Yangon, a frigid bus ride later we were abandoned roadside in the icy chill of Kalaw, a former hill station retreat made popular by the conquering British Empire in the late 19th century. Today Kalaw exists as a peaceful town, centred around a market where locals from surrounding villages make daily visits to buy food for their families and partake in some neighbourhood gossip. For foreigners, Kalaw exists as a starting point for treks to those surrounding villages hidden away in the hills or for the more ambitious trekker, for ... read more

As I write this blog from the ‘comforts’ of a Bangkok cafe, awaiting our Myanmar visa which should arrive in the next few hours, I’m struck by the delicate tightrope of fortune that we often walk whilst travelling. On the day we left Indonesia, a large earthquake struck the western shores of Sumatra, just off the coast of Banda Aceh, the place where a 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed a quarter of a million people and the place where we had been a few weeks earlier. Thus far, we have yet to hear of any injuries or deaths and obviously we hope that is how it remains. A vast percentage of the time when travelling, we never know or are never aware of how close to danger we could be. We take necessary precautions to ... read more

As we sat around the dinner table, the man, British but now a permanent resident of the Togean Islands, remarked to us how you “don’t get here by accident” and how right he was... The journey began in Tana Toraja where we were told that there were no buses running to Poso over New Year, a necessary stopping point on the way to the Togeans. Our hearts sank like heavy stones in our bellies... Since we had both been battling with sickness, physically and with regards to missing home, we had been looking forward to our stay in the Togean Islands, and to be honest we needed the respite more than we would care to admit. We were approached by another European couple who wanted to share transport to a lake which is en ... read more

NOTE: Not suitable for vegetarians or animal lovers in general... What should you do when it’s the Christmas period; you’re feeling quite homesick and coming of the back of food poisoning? Why, venture into the heart of Sulawesi to a land where the people are completely and utterly obsessed with death of course... We’ve hit the wall! Almost 700 days into our trip, we’ve come to that point where we’ve questioned the worth of continuing. When you’re so far into a journey, the mundane just isn’t enough anymore – the things that amuse and amaze in the honey-moon period of travelling barely merit attention anymore and as such, it becomes more difficult. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy Indonesia; on the contrary, we’ve thus far found it to be one of our personal favourites, a ... read more

“Small but effective” appears to be the unofficial slogan of Danau Toba, an incredibly beautiful lake some 900ft above sea level which is actually the collapsed crater of a long extinct volcano. Yet, there is nothing “small” about Lake Toba! The lake is 450m deep and encircles the Singaporean-sized island of Samosir, and though the local Batak tribes-people may be small of stature they are big of heart and rest assured that they all have a decent set of lungs on them! The Batak people do not consider themselves to be Indonesian despite the country being the birthplace for many of the recent generations. The Bataks were forced to migrate from the mountains of northern Thailand and Burma many hundreds of years ago and as you might expect in the case of displaced people, ... read more

I had been looking forward to Bukit Lawang and its famed Orang-utan for quite some time, so much so that I dreamt about it whilst on Pulau Weh...but not in the way that you might think. In the dream, Amy had apparently had a child whilst we’ve been away (from where I don’t know) and had decided to name the boy Lawang! Of course I thought this ridiculous (although preferable to “Bukit”) and we argued and then...I woke up! Hopefully the place itself would not be as bizarre... Leaving from Pulau Weh, we knew we were in for one of those tediously long journeys again. A bus, a boat, a tuk tuk, two buses and then finally a final tuk tuk; all of which consumed 24 hours of our 30-day Indonesian visa before we ultimately arrived ... read more

We are Amy and Chris. After completing our first attempt at a round the world trip in 2012, we are currently fitting in careers around our enduring need to see the world.
Our blog is primarily for family and friends, but we are always flattered to learn that others have read (and on occasion even enjoyed) our writing and photographs. With that said...
Afoot and light hearted, I take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me.
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose...you road I enter upon and
look around! I beli... full info